Doctor Fate

1908 - Kent Nelson is born.

1920 - 12-year-old Kent joins his father on an expedition to open the supposed resting place of Nabu, the ancient sorcerer. His father is killed opening the tomb, & Nabu, immortally bound to his helmet, takes pity on Kent, taking him in as a student.

1940 - 32-year-old Kent leaves Nabu's tomb possessing the helmet of Nabu & discovers that the world is in chaos. He first becomes Doctor Fate.

1941 - After the attack on Pearl Harbor, 33-year-old Kent founds the Justice Society.

1943 - 35-year-old Kent is summoned by Madame Xanadu to join the 3rd Shadowpact.

1945 - WW2 ends.

1947 - 39-year-old Kent retreats into Fate's Tower, where his aging stops.

17 years ago - Inza Cramer discovers the tower and convinces Kent to take her on as an apprentice and assistant.

8 years ago - Kent is defeated in his tower by Lord Mordru, who usurps Nabu's helmet. He is defeated by the Justice Society and trapped in an amulet.

7 years ago - Kent helps Diana Prince summon Manitou Raven & Dawn from the Stony Path to free Billy Batson from Circe's control during the Godwar.

5 years ago - Inza Cramer, under the influence of the lord of chaos T'Giian, leaves Fate's Tower. Her location is hidden.

4 years ago - Inza Cramer is overwhelmed by her amulet, becoming the avatar of T'Giian. The Justice League find Kent in Fate's Tower. He battles Inza, saving her from T'Giian. they are married by Nabu, & return to the tower.

3 years ago - Kent Nelson, magically discovering a pending cosmic demonic cataclysm, summons Arthur Curry, Adam Blake, Kendra Saunders & Solomon Grundy to stop it. In the In the end Grundy gives his life to save the universe.

There is something incredibly satisfying about Doctor Fate. He's not really a character built to fit into modern comics; he was a product of the Golden Age and absolutely is most at home there, but there is a purity to his design that is unmistakable even to modern readers. Attempts to recreate Doctor Fate in modern stories for modern audiences have varied widely in quality, but the classic version of the characters is just such a great take on a particular trope of superhero. We might have a lot of trenchcoated magic users dotting the comic landscape, but I would argue that no one has ever taken the magic-user-as-superhero idea and done it more iconically.

Doctor Fate's Comic History

Doctor Fate first appeared in 1940, in issue #55 of More Fun Comics, the flagship series for the Spectre. Kent Nelson started as a 12-year-old boy who accompanied his father on an archeological dig in Egypt as he discovered the tomb of an ancient Egyptian wizard named Nabu. They open Nabu';s sarcophagus, finding him awakened, but also releasing a poison gas trap that kills his father.

Comics of the era LOVED the idea of rapidly aging their heroes from childhood to adulthood; these were stories for kids, afterall, and what kid doesn't love the idea of magically becoming a superpowered grown-up? so Nabu (after wiping his memory of his father's death), magically ages Kent and in the process, teaches him all of his magic. He then asks Kent to kill him, and reimplants him with his memory of his father's death so that he can lash out in an instant of vengeful rage. It is a LOT happening all at once.

While a few characters actually never stopped being published coming out of the late 40's & and early 50's, and others had new versions introduced in the late 50's...there are tons of characters that were hugely popular back in those early years that never really had successful new analog versions of the character introduced. More than anything else, these are what we consider "Golden Age" heroes. Doctor Fate is probably one of the biggest examples of this; through most of that era, he was easily one of the most popular characters in DC, the unique silhouette of his helmet just as recognizable as Batman's cowl.

He would appear in practically every issue of More Fun Comics, but more importantly, he was integral in the founding of the Justice Society over in All Star Comics, appearing in practically every issue there as well. As comics transitioned into the Silver Age, with their new takes on classic heroes, the Society would start to cross over with the Justice League, introducing the idea of the Multiverse, and Doctor Fate would continue to be one of the most powerful, most important characters in his part of DC.

After the Crisis of Infinite Earths, several attempts were made to create new versions of Doctor Fate, some of them better than others. After the death of Kent Nelson in 1987's Doctor Fate #1, we meet Eric Strauss, another rapidly aged child character who becomes the new Doctor Fate along with his stepmother Linda... although this quickly winds up being exactly as problematic as you can imagine it might be. Afterward, Kent Nelson's long-time wife and partner Insa Nelson became a new Doctor Fate... this version of the character works WAY better, and we're actually using it in our timeline. Then, of course, we get Jared Stevens, or 'Fate'; a smuggler who reshapes Nabu's helmet into throwing knives to become a demon hunter... it's the most 90's thing ever, and while I acknowledge that it was patently ridiculous... I can't help but love it a little bit.

Several more takes on the character follow. During James Robinson & Geoff John's JSA, Doctor Fate is Hector Hall, the son of the original Hawkman and Hawkwoman Carter & Shiera Hall, previously the Infinity Inc character Silver Scarab, and also retconned to have been the Jack Kirby character Sandman (also, father of Daniel Hall, future Lord of Dreams). The Helm of Nabu wound up being up for grabs after Infinite Crisis, and was eventually claimed by Kent V Nelson, the Grandnephew of the original Kent. Post New 52, we get a few more Doctor Fates in Khalid Ben-Hassin & Khalid Nassour, neither of which did much to innovate the character.

Our Doctor Fate Story

Doctor Fate is always an awesome and vital part of every version of the DC universe. Even when he's separated from the mainstream continuity as a part of Earth 2, or as a hero from a past era, he's so powerful and so vital to the world of magic in DC that he always plays a huge role in the story.

For us, the most important thing is to set him up as part of the classic Justice Society. We're going to change his origins a tiny bit... we don't need to include the bit where Nabu rapidly ages him, he can just age normally while being apprenticed to Nabu, who is a mystic presence rather than an undead wizard. This also means that when he re-enters the world after his apprenticeship, he discovers it in turmoil because of the pending World War, and gives him a great motivation to start the Justice Society.

We're also going to leave a LOT of versions of modern Doctor Fate off the table. We'll have Inza take on the role and join the modern Justice Society, but other than that, Kent remains the sole Doctor Fate, and remains secured in his tower. This makes him almost an urban legend among the rest of the superheroes of the world... if Doctor Fate shows up, EVERYONE is in awe.

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